Best CBD Oil for Arthritis: What you Need to Know

Written by Kyla Burns, Masters Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from Central Michigan University

The Best CBD Oil for Arthritis

I’ll be honest, being relatively young I have never used cannabis oil for arthritis before. However, in the years that I’ve spent working in a healthcare setting and in particular with the elderly (most of which suffer from some form of arthritis), I have seen first hand the therapeutic effects that natural cannabis extracts can have.

Ultimately, when you’re talking about CBD oil for knee pain (and other forms of joint pain stemming from arthritis), it is the anti-inflammatory properties of the cannabinoid compounds that come into play to reduce both the swelling and the actual physical pain associated with bone-on-bone joint movement.

In this article, I focus on my personal recommendations and thoughts with regard to CBD and arthritis, with a specific emphasis on the best CBD arthritis cream available. Most all patients who use CBD for joint pain do so with some sort of a topical ointment, and I’ll explain why later in the article.

[Want to check out my all-time favorite CBD arthritis pick? Head over to Pure Kana to view their industry-leading Menthol CBD Ointment].

“I thought I would be on my pain meds forever… Thank you SO much for turning me on to CBD! Unreal effects!”

How to Use CBD Oil for Arthritis

Basically, CBD arthritis cream is preferred (as opposed to oil drops or CBD capsules) for joint pain because it allows patients to administer the active compound directly to the site of inflammation, allowing for a more directed approach.

CBD oil for pain will certainly work as well, with the active compound eventually making its way to the site of discomfort, but when you ingest any compound orally it is subject to metabolic breakdown via the digestive system, and thus loses some of its bioavailability before it reaches the target area.

When talking about CBD and arthritis, topical creams and ointments are typically preferred because administration directly at the site of inflammation allows the extract to absorb through the dermal layers and travel directly to the source of pain, where it can begin working its anti-inflammatory magic.

That being said, many people choose to use standard CBD oils, pills, edibles, or even CBD vape liquid to help relieve arthritis symptoms, but generally speaking most prefer to use a topical ointment for the above-mentioned reasons.

CBD for Arthritis: Does it Work?

Before we go any further, it’s important to clarify that even the best CBD for arthritis should not be considered an actual “medical treatment.” The only condition that CBD has been FDA-approved for as a medicine is for intractable forms of epilepsy, and even still it is rare to find a doctor that would prefer to prescribe natural cannabis extract over higher-strength pharmaceuticals (hopefully this begins to change over the coming years and decades).

Like I’ve said, the fact that people correlate CBD oil and arthritis is because of the simple reason that CBD has pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties; arthritis is an inflammatory disease at its core, and thus the natural properties of cannabidiol can potentially act as a reliable therapy — if used correctly and efficiently.

Regardless, we emphasize again that CBD cream for arthritis is not an FDA-approved form of therapy, and thus should not expected to be able to replace any current analgesic or anti-inflammatory prescription meds.

What’s the Most Potent CBD Oil for Joint Pain?

Other than “what’s the most potent CBD oil for pain,” probably the most commonly asked question that I hear is “what CBD dosage for inflammation should I take?”

Well, this question of course depends on what kind of CBD oil joint pain you’re using, and is another reason why I always suggest to try topical creams and ointments.

With ointments, the CBD content is generally extremely concentrated (one of my favorite anti-inflammatory creams contains a whopping 750 mg extract in a tiny 3.4 oz jar), and thus you can typically massage about a quarter-sized dab of cream onto the affected joint for positive results.

Other products like arthrozen gel only have about 200-300 mg of actual CBD extract, and with these you’ll need to use nearly an entire jar just to feel any therapeutic effects. If you buy a more potent and higher quality CBD salve for arthritis, however, you can generally use very small quantities to see effective results. In fact, I always say that “less is more” when it comes to the best CBD dosage for rheumatoid arthritis, or for any form of arthritis for that matter.

CBD Oil for Osteoarthritis: My Personal Experience

Like I said, I don’t personally use CBD oil for arthritis, as I (fortunately) don’t suffer from any kind of arthritis!

However, like I said I’ve seen enough patients with arthritis and have enough experience with literally thousands of products across the CBD industry that I can confidently recommend a few of my favorite products in terms of their therapeutic effectiveness.

And in fact, my grandmother suffers from intense osteoarthritis in her hands/knuckles, and I have effectively weaned her off taking “as-needed” opioids for acute relief, and she now almost exclusively uses a 300 mg CBD ointment that she simply rubs it into her hands as she would with any kind of a hydrating/moisturizing lotion.

I will see that the cream is not powerful enough to take as-needed, but she uses it three times a day every day (morning, afternoon, evening), and it effectively minimizes her joint inflammation to the point where she hasn’t had to refill her oxycodone prescription for nearly four months.

“Takes awhile for the inflammation to reduce, but works wonders on my knee joint pain.”

Best CBD for Osteoarthritis: The Top Brands

Ok, so onto the reason you probably came here in the first place – what are the best CBD arthritis oils and creams on the market?

Well, like I said in the intro I personally would prefer Pure Kana’s ultra-potent 750 mg cream, but for a lot of arthritic patients this would probably be overkill in terms of strength (not to mention it’s also pretty pricey).

With that in mind, here are my top three current recommendations for my favorite “cannabis cream for arthritis”:

Pure Kana 750 mg Menthol CBD Cream

This is truly the “cream of the crop” (sorry I couldn’t help myself, no pun intended) arthritis CBD cream on the market, in my opinion at least, and if you’re worried about how to use CBD oil for arthritis, you don’t have to be here as it’s honestly as easy as rubbing about a quarter-sized dab of cream onto the inflamed joint area.

As a professional healthcare provider I can’t “medically” recommend using CBD pain cream for arthritis, but if I could, PureKana would probably be the ointment I would prescribe the most often.

Green Roads 300 mg TheraGreen Pain Cream

This cream isn’t quite as potent as the Pure Kana lotion, but it’s much less expensive and in my opinion poses equally as efficient results on a mg-per-mg basis. And like I said, this is the one that I’ve got my grandmother using on a daily basis with great success.

Premium Jane CBD Topical Ointment

Premium Jane is a brand new company on the market, and I ws fortunate enough to be able to receive some of their sample products before they even hit the commercial market. I’ll be honest – I would not be surprised if these guys are rivaling the likes of Pure Kana, Green Roads and CW Hemp within the next 12 months as one of the most popular and effective CBD brands on the U.S. market.

Just like Pure Kana they offer a 750 mg topical CBD ointment, and in my limited experience with it, it seems like it’s every bit as effective. Unfortunately, though, it’s the exact same price so it still errs on the relatively expensive side of things.

[Learn more about the brand and check out the complete range of new Premium Jane CBD products by visiting their website at PremiumJane.com].

How Expensive is Hemp Oil for Arthritis?

When I talk about “pricey” CBD cream for arthritis, I’m referring to the Pure Kana 750 mg lotion, which runs $80 for a 3.4 oz jar. The Green Roads TheraGreen Pain Cream is a good deal cheaper, but bear in mind that it only contains 300 mg of CBD hemp extract:

Bear in mind that you can find much cheaper options out there on the online market for CBD joint pain creams, but in my experience they’re not really worth because you have to massage so much lotion into your skin in order to feel the effects, that you’ll nearly be through the entire jar jost for a single dose.

Something like the CBD Essence Active Lifestyle topical is a good option that’s less than $40, but again, it likely won’t be near as potent as my other recommendations.

“Been using CBD capsules for years but like everyone else says, the pain cream is preferable for arthritis joint pain.”

Final Verdict: CBD Cream for Arthritis Pain

To finalize, let me reiterate the fact that even the best CBD oil for arthritis should not be considered a cure or a viable treatment option to replace your current pain-relieving medications.

The analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of cannabidiol – even though there is much scientific backing available – remains speculative in nature, and until we see some multi-phase clinical trials run that actually test CBD for arthritis on diagnosed patients, we cannot make any medical claims as to the extract’s clinical effects.

However, be advised that thousands upon thousands of patients are currently using CBD oil for arthritis, and many of these have in fact been able to drop their side-effect inducing prescription pain meds, much to their delight.

Will it have the same effects on you? I certainly can’t say or guarantee for sure, but I can say that given the incredible safety profile of CBD, it’s certainly worth a try.

Copyright 2018 ShoppingCBD | Disclosure: This is a professional review site and therefore it’s important to understand that none of the products listed on this site have been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here is not meant as a substitute or alternative to information from health care practitioners. Please consult your primary doctor using any CBD product. Furthermore, all of the product reviews listed on this website are real unbiased reviews from my own personal experience. While this site may be compensated for sales that arrive from this site, the opinions of these products are sincere and based on the first-hand experiences.